That Sudbury Sports Guy: The Cycle of Life, basketball style, at Lo-Ellen

The recent Ontario Basketball Team Ontario announcements contain a double wave of Lo-Ellen Knights talent. Emilie Lafond and Delaney Bourget were confirmed as part of the 18-athlete roster that will vie for the chance to represent the province at nationals in Victoria, B.C., in early August, while the tandem of Syla Swords and Bree Bourget were selected as alternates to the U14 squad, the only two underagers included in the group.Photo supplied

Let’s call this the Lo-Ellen Park Circle of Life – Basketball 101 version.

The current crop of female hardcourt talent at the school is impressive. It’s also not gone unnoticed.

The recent Ontario Basketball Team Ontario announcements contain a double wave of Knights talent, as a pair of women less than a year away from deciding on their post-secondary venue of choose provide the footsteps that a second set of grade seven girls can strive to follow.

It is a succession plan that is noteworthy, especially in these parts.

At the same time that Emilie Lafond and Delaney Bourget were confirmed as part of the 18-athlete roster that will vie for the chance to represent the province at nationals in Victoria, B.C in early August, the tandem of Syla Swords and Bree Bourget were selected as alternates to the U14 squad, the only two underagers included in a grouping that is 16 girls strong.

This is just the latest good news for a Lo-Ellen crew that are showing signs of trail-blazing a first-rate basketball path, with every passing year. That development is understood and appreciated by those in its midst.

“I’m a lot more versatile than I was before,” stated Lafond, a 6-foot-3 post/forward. “Before, I was just cooped up in the paint. It was just more comfortable for me. Now, I am definitely more comfortable, not only in the post, but even in the mid-range area. I’m comfortable taking that elbow jumper, even the jumpers from the baseline.

“Now, I find if I am being guarded by someone who is bigger than me, I can take them out to the perimeter. I feel like I can play from there.”

Certainly, this was all part of the vision when Lo-Ellen basketball coach and educator Jennifer Bourget helped lead the move to creating a program that could enter the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association.

“When we transferred into the OSBA, the level of compete was just that much higher,” said Lafond. “We were playing against the best girls in Ontario. Being able to play in that league really allowed me to develop my skills, because it pushed me. I had to play against girls that were better, girls that were stronger and faster.”

Those sentiments ring true, right across the entire Lo-Ellen Park Prep roster.

“Being in the OSBA has really helped the level of physicality in my game, as well as the speed,” suggested sharp-shooting point guard Delaney Bourget. “This league is so much faster, the intensity is so much higher. Being guarded by some of the best defenders in the province, it’s essential for me to be able to create, both for myself and my teammates.”

For Bourget, the prevailing theme is clearly the flow of the ball into the basket, that one particularly critical element of her game, the key aspect that needed to shine as she worked her way through the rigorous tryout process.

“If you’re a shooter, coaches want to see that you’re not afraid to shoot the ball, that you don’t hesitate,” she said.

“Whenever I had any open looks, I wasn’t afraid to shoot.” Still, there is a balance to be found, understanding that the entire scope of her game will continue to fall under increased scrutiny, the further up the ladder she climbs, even if one skill set rises to prominence above the rest.

“For me, there’s so many small things that I can get that much better at, it’s hard to pick just one,” said Bourget. “But I think if I can lock in my shot, there’s just so many aspects of my game that this can open. If I am shooting the ball really well, that opens up the chance for me to create stuff for my teammates.”

Ultimately, this will be the kind of self-reflective analysis that Syla Swords and her U14 cohorts will bring to their game. For now, the 13-year-old Grade 7 student at Lo-Ellen Park Intermediate will try and keep things a little more simple.

“I’m mostly just crafty around the rim, getting there to finish and being able to make a good read,” she said.

A product of a basketball-rich family environment, Swords recalled her early days on the court, wandering trepidatiously through her introduction to the sport.

“It’s always been basketball for me, right from the start,” said the daughter of the head coach of the Laurentian Voyageurs men’s team. “My first memory was trying to do a cross-over, and I just ended up double-dribbling.”

Needless to say, she has come a long way. Looking forward to just taking in everything this experience has to offer, Swords is hoping to exit the summer with an even more well-rounded resume.

“I’m more of an offensive player,” she acknowledged. “The hardest part of playing defence, for me, is guarding girls that are smaller and quicker than me.”

To this extent, she very much enjoys her local one on one matchups with Sudbury Jam teammate Bree Bourget. Twelve years of age and also in Grade 7, the younger sister to Delaney admitted that there is some element of trying to pattern herself, to some extent, to a sibling that she has grown up watching and admiring on the court.

“We’re both point guards and we can both shoot,” said Bree. “I would say that we’re pretty similar. She’s a really a good shooter, but she’s also a great leader for her teammates. I want to improve on leading my team.”

And while developing a leadership style that she can call her own might be a work in progress for the young lady who turns 13 in June, Bourget knows that what she and Swords can take away from the next few months will go a long way towards helping them shed the moniker of alternates when they work their way through provincial training camps one year from now.

“We’re a year younger and still learning stuff, so this is a great experience,” said Bourget. “All of the point guards on this team are really fast and explosive, really good with the ball. I want to make sure I keep improving, being able to handle the ball, so that I can make sure I am always comfortable with it.”

Close by, she and Swords have a believer.

“Both of them have insane work ethics, at such a young age,” exclaimed Delaney Bourget, who coached the girls with their elementary team this winter. “If they can just maintain that and keep having fun, they’re going to be great.”

And the Cycle of Life – Basketball 101 version will continue at Lo-Ellen.

Randy Pascal is That Sudbury Sports Guy. His column runs regularly in The Sudbury Star.